Welcome back to the future, as we return to the FOX series “Wayward Pines,” once again this Summer. Here’s what we know as certainty, it’s been over three years since the deaths of FBI Agent Ethan Burke and the town’s founder Dr. David Pilcher. The First Generation Of Wayward Pines now call the shots and they lack any compassion and never allow any deviance from the rules. Jason Higgins now runs the town with an iron fist, encouraged by his significant other Kerry Campbell and his former teacher Megan Fisher. Although we believed Fisher perished in the season one finale, she survived although she’s now restricted to a wheelchair.

Higgins’ obsessed with trying to follow the example of Pilcher, however he’s dealing with a far larger band of Rebels than Pilcher did. That Rebel contingent’s lead by former FBI Agent Kate Hewson and her second in command is none other than Ethan’s son Ben. Their camp seems to be outside of Wayward Pines, perhaps indicating that their mortal enemies “The Abbies” may have vacated the area.

However our story opens on one of the Hawaiian Islands, in our current time-period. We meet a new couple Dr. Theo Yedlin and his wife Rebecca, who seem to be going through a rough stage in their relationship, as they sit on the beach and watch the ocean. Theo heads to the bar and orders himself a beer, when a stranger sitting at the other end of the bar says it appears a tropical storm’s heading their way. He says their only choice is to sit it out and tells Yedlin the next round’s on him.

Although the generous man’s a stranger to Theo, we recognize him immediately. He’s our old pal Sheriff Pope sent to the island by David Pilcher to acquire Yedlin for use in their future community. Pope and Theo keep the alcohol flowing and Pope starts telling the doctor about his vision of the future of humanity. The future lawman says that change’s coming, that humanities headed for an evolutionary transition.

We fast-forward later into the evening and Pope asks Theo, that if the doctor had a chance to save one thousand people, by putting them down but realizing he could revive them magically in the future? Once again we fast-forward as the pair are now totally wasted. Poe says that he’s a great judge of people and he tells Theo that he’s a great man and he’s going to save a lot of lives.

Our next scene shows us Theo being revived in his cryogenic chamber and he finally wakes up in an ornately furnished room. He’s on a couch and an attractive young woman’s sitting a few feet away in a chair. Yedlin’s disoriented and embarrassed and it takes him a couple of attempts to get off the couch and standup. He tries to get the young woman, Kerry Campbell to tell him what happened to him and she smiles. She says he must have forgotten about the tropical storm, however he’s in Wayward Pines and his wife will arrive shortly. She then says he’s needed at the hospital.

When they arrive at the facility Theo sees Kate Hewson lying unconscious on a gurney and Jason Higgins standing nearby. He tells Yedlin that the patient has a bullet lodged at the base of her spine and Theo tells Higgins that the woman’s septic and asks why she’s been left unattended. Higgins responds that the town’s former doctor died and that’s why they sent for him. He then tells Theo that the doctor’s boss at Mass General said that Yedlin was the man they needed.

Once Higgins mentioned Yedlin’s supervisor’s name, Theo bought into the legitimacy of the project. Higgins explained the town as a secret Government project, to examine the effects of a post-war environment. He said everybody in the town were volunteers, Yedlin responds he didn’t volunteer. Higgins says Theo’s wife Rebecca’s on her way and once he completed the surgery, they’d be sent home.

While the procedure takes place Higgins meets with Campbell and she tells him they lost another member of The First Generation to the Rebels. Higgins realizes that Xander Beck’s the traitor, then Campbell informs Jason that two more members The First Generation died that morning. Higgins walks over to a whiteboard covered with photos including a large image of Ben Burke and out of frustration he asks aloud Ben where are you? We then become aware there’s another person in the room as we hear Megan Fisher’s voice.

Although many fans of the series hoped Fisher met her demise in the first season finale, the director of the Wayward Pines Academy survived the night of destruction, though now wheelchair bound. However she still maintains a Svengali like influence over her former students. When Higgins’ puts himself down for not being the effective leader that Pilcher was Megan counters that Jason’s fighting a far tougher situation than Pilcher faced.

The procedure succeeds and Theo gets a chance to talk with his patient. Hewson tries to convey to Theo that things aren’t as they seem and that Jason lied to him. Yedlin then sees that Kate’s handcuffed to her bed and soon after Higgins enters the room and tells Theo that he’s headed to the Wayward Pines Hotel. He’ll stay there until Rebecca arrives.

Theo’s driven to the Hotel by a young man named Mario, who seems to be the town’s new sheriff, although he’s never referred to by the title. Yedlin finds out that Mario’s never left the confines of his town, Mario explaining he believes he best serves humanity by staying in town.

After parking the vehicle, Yedlin and Mario start walking to the hotel when they see a young woman being forcibly escorted by two members of The First Generation Of Wayward Pines. Her young son follows them out of the building and asks his mother where she’s going and one of the Goon Squad roughly pushes the young boy away. Theo attempts to intercede, but he’s quickly told to stay out of it. We then realize the young woman’s Ruby, former waitress at the diner and part of Kate’s original band of Rebels. She smiles at her son and tells him she’ll be home soon, the Goon that pushed the child earlier suddenly turns kind and tells the boy he’s going to buy him some candy and they reenter the building.

We get our first glimpse of Ben, sitting at a table in the Rebel’s base of operation talking with Xander. Beck’s telling Ben that the Rebels are driving Higgins crazy as they keep eliminating Jason’s soldiers. Burke’s not satisfied with that though, saying the only way to make changes is to get inside the operation.

Theo enters his sparse hotel room and opens a plastic bag with his belongings inside of it. He sees his wedding ring and we get another flashback from Hawaii. Turns out that the hurdle in the Yedlin’s marriage concerns whether or not they should have a baby. We’re not told which partner favors bringing a child into the world, but Theo says to Rebecca that she knew what he was when they first met. She responds that’s why she fell in love with him.

Returning to his present, Yedlin tries opening one of his hotel windows but finds it’s sealed shut. Xander soon arrives and removes the nails outside the window that kept occupants from opening it. He tells Theo he’s getting him out of there and the two escape.

Higgins goes to question Hewson, he tells her he could have let her die and she asks why he didn’t. Jason says because she’s the Rebel leader and he wants Ben’s location and Kate just scoffs at him. She replies Higgins killed her husband and she’s not about to help him. Jason says that he’s just trying to follow the principles that Pilcher put in place, Hewson laughs at him and tells him his problem’s his refusal to evolve. He leaves the room in disgust.

He meets again with Kerry and he says he believes the only way he can gain back control’s through another Reckoning. Campbell says the residents aren’t going to love him for that, however Fisher interrupts her. Megan says Jason’s got to send a message, Higgins nods his head and says clear and severe.

Xander asks Theo if Kate talked to Jason and asked what she said, but Yedlin told him he didn’t know. He then asked if Hewson said anything to him and Theo said she mentioned Group C. He then says to Beck he just wants to go home, Xander opens a gate that leads to the town square and tells Theo he is home. Noticing the crowd gathering for the Reckoning, Beck tells Yedlin they should leave as Yedlin won’t want to see this.

Higgins strides onto the podium and grabs a microphone, so his words are not only heard by the crowd, his voice gets transmitted over the town’s radio station. Kate hears his words lying in her hospital bed, while Ben and some of his followers are gathered in a UPS truck, listening on their radio. Jason apologizes for not being the leader that Pilcher was, then says the time for bloodshed’s over. He offers a general amnesty for any of the Rebels that surrender, he then asks that Ben and his followers come to the square and lay down their weapons. He waits for a bit then walks off the podium, shaking his head and telling Campbell he tried.

We watch two men in uniform open the back of a van and two men and Ruby come out with their hands bound and lead to the podium. Jason says he offered a peaceful solution, but he’s now forced to do what Pilcher would have done and the three captives are forced to their knees on the podium. He goes up to Ruby, puts his hand on her shoulder and when she remains silent Mario puts a bullet in the back of her head.

Yedlin starts to charge the podium but gets intercepted by some soldiers. Just then we see Rebecca’s in the crowd and she calls to her husband. Theo’s taken into custody and then Jason says enough and stands behind one of the two men and puts the pistol against his head. Suddenly Ben’s voice rings through the air, he says you want to stop the killing we’re here and we surrender. They put their guns on the ground and Higgins barks out, take them.

A huge group’s taken to a detention center, among them Theo and Rebecca. The couple hug and Yedlin pleads with his wife to leave the town and says it’s not safe. Just then Mario summons Theo and Xander and says Jason wants to speak with them immediately. Rebecca tells her husband she’ll wait for him.

Jason tells the two men the rebellion’s over and he’d like the pair to join him on the mountain for a meal and discuss the future for the town. Theo says Higgins needs to let him know everything that’ s going on and Jason says he will and to get into the car. Xander’s handcuffed and put into the back of a van where Ben’s sitting there with handcuffs as well.

Megan heads to Kate’s hospital room so she can pour salt in the wound. Fisher says that it’s time to put aside their differences and work as a team. She then notices that Hewson’s pain medication’s low and starts to inject more with a syringe she puts into the IV tube connected to Kate’s arm. However Kate had picked the lock on the handcuff chained to the bedpost and she jumps out of bed, throws Fisher to the ground and kneels over her with a razor pressed against Megan’s throat.

Fisher says you just can’t get along and suddenly we see the madness in Hewson’s eyes. She talks about man’s achievements through time. She says we were capable of so much, but now it’s your world and your future and she says she doesn’t want any part of it. She then takes the blade and slits her own throat and when she dies she’s laying right next to a blood covered Fisher.

Mario drives Theo to the top of the mountain right in front of the electric fence that guards the town. Yedlin asks what’s on the other side of the fence, Mario knocks him out with a slug to the jaw then opens the gate and puts a large rock on the accelerator. The van goes into the woods and tips over. When Theo regain consciousness, he’s horrified by what he sees. The Abbies run en-masse towards the van and one of them cracks the windshield, however instead of going after Yedlin they try to climb the electric fence. Just like lemmings rushing into the sea, the Abbies keep attacking the fence and getting electrocuted. See you next week!

If I possessed the ability to predict the outcome of the stock-market, instead of the plot of a TV series, my wife and I could be comfortably retired on our own private island near Hawaii. Although Las Vegas offers wagers in a variety of areas, I highly doubt they have a book that’s devoted to TV show season finale outcomes. However as I wrote at the time, I put myself out on a limb a couple of weeks ago and I’m pleased I didn’t end up falling on my behind.

For the third straight year, fans of the NBC series “The Blacklist,” got treated to an exciting and action packed season finale, that provided some answers but left us waiting until October for answers to new questions. Once again we’re going to break format in order to summarize what we’ve learned in this campaign and hopefully provide some insight along with my opinions.

Elizabeth Keen’s Alive And Living In Cuba

Other than the fact that Kate Kaplan got Lizzie out of the country, no real surprise here. If Megan Boone truly was leaving the show she would have gotten a far grander sendoff. As predicted Mr. Kaplan drew up a play in the dirt and left Raymond out of the loop. After picking up Tom and Liz outside of Mercy Hospital to transport them to a nightclub where Lizzie would give birth, Kate realized she needed to extricate the Keen family from Raymond’s life. So she convinced Nick to fake Lizzie’s death and Tom and Liz agreed to the plan.

Mr. Kaplan hired a small plane to transport Tom and Agnes to their new life in Cuba, but unfortunately Alexander Kirk’s operatives trailed Tom and Agnes and found out Lizzie’s waiting for her husband and daughter to their new home. The episode concluded with the Keen’s being held captive by Kirk and Raymond holding a pistol against Mr. Kaplan’s temple and asks “What are we going to do about you Kate?”

If anyone else had done what Kate did, their corpse would already be in a landfill dump in New Jersey. The fact that Raymond didn’t pull the trigger in that scene, lends me to believe that Red understands why she took the actions she did. The longer Raymond contemplates his next move the greater the odds he’ll forgive Mr. Kaplan.

Alexander Kirk Is Lizzie’s Father

Although there’s many fans that refuse to believe it, “Daddy-Gate” got resolved in the third season finale and Raymond Reddington’s not the Poppa. Alexander Kirk’s an alias for Konstantin Rostov, husband of Katerina and father of Masha Rostova. (The suffix “ova” is added to the “root-name” in many Eastern-European tongues, signifying wife of or daughter of.)

The purpose of Rostov wanting contact with his daughter and granddaughter’s unclear as the episode and season concluded. Is he simply trying to develop a relationship with a daughter he believed died in a fire as a child, or is he hoping Lizzie and Agnes can help him with his medical condition. Konstantin seems to receive frequent blood transfusions, which could be a result of a serious illness.

Raymond, Katerina’s father Dom and perhaps others went to great lengths to ensure that Rostov believed his daughter died as a child. They put her in Sam’s care and cutoff all contact with her, however Raymond was so confident he could keep her safe he broke the pact he had with Dominic. During episode 21, Red blamed Laurel Hitchin and the Cabal for exposing the name Masha Rostova to the planet. However if Raymond’s honest with himself, he’ll soon realize that it’s his fault the name surfaced.

Just before Liz shot United States Attorney General Tom Connelly in season two, Reddington revealed to Liz that her mother was a Soviet Spy named Katerina Rostova and her birth name was Masha Rostova. At the beginning of season three, Keen sought asylum at the Russian Embassy claiming she was a Russian spy. That act revealed her birth name which in turn revealed to Kirk his daughter hadn’t died.

Raymond Was Leaving The Task-Force

Raymond and Harold Cooper had a goodbye meeting just before Reddington left to try to assassinate Kirk and told Harold without Elizabeth being there his work was done, then told Cooper he appreciated him and his team and expressed his unabashed respect for Harold. He looked Cooper in the eye and said Charlene, inferring just with the mention of Harold’s estranged wife’s name they should get back together. He also begged Cooper to fix Aram up with somebody, comparing the Tech Wizard to a boy on a school bus with his first erection. However once they get Lizzie away from Kirk, look for them to both be back in the fold.

Ressler Chooses Justice Over The Law

Raymond’s plan was to have his sniper takeout Kirk, but Ressler found them before Kirk’s limo arrived and threatened to kill Raymond’s soldier. Reddington sent his man away and he grabbed the rifle and getting the scope ready as Ressler points his pistol at the back Red’s head while Dembe has his weapon on Donald. Raymond tells Ressler that if he plans to stop Red from taking the shot, he best shoot Reddington right now. But Donald pockets his weapon, Unfortunately Kirk doesn’t emerge from the limousine, it’s one of his lieutenants. Kirk’s flying to Cuba to meet his daughter and Granddaughter.

Senator Robert Diaz’s Campaign Song, I’m Your Puppet

Although Raymond told Senator Robert Diaz last week for politicians, Reddington actually wants a favor from Diaz if he’s the next occupant of the Oval Office. He told the Senator he wants a full pardon for Elizabeth to clear her record even though he thought Liz was dead at this point.

What’s Up For Season Four?

Konstantin Rostov will become the designated “Big Bad” at the beginning of next season. How long his storyline lasts remains to be seen. Lizzie and Raymond will return to the Post Office and the Task-Force will once again go after the names on Raymond’s list. Have a great Summer!!

{“The Blacklist,” which normally occupies this space will be preempted this week for the following special program.}

Welcome to the world of Halcyon Aegis, a corporation that exists as a result of the United States Government outsourcing more and more of their military budget to subcontractors. Picture if you will a cooler version of Halliburton, with a sultry and savvy woman running the operation. Halcyon Aegis undertakes tasks that the Government can’t publicly acknowledge, such as negotiating with foreign thugs to get American hostages released.

That just happens to be exactly what the corporation’s leader Susan “Scottie” Hargrave’s in the midst of when we join her in Indonesia. She’s there to negotiate a deal with a kidnapper named Karokaro whose demanding a million dollar deposit into his bit-coin account or he’ll kill his hostages. Scottie then gives Karokaro the routing number to make a deposit in her bit-coin account and she’s demanding three million.

We then see perhaps one of the reasons that Raymond Reddington’s never liked Hargrave, because she shares his talent for sharing anecdotes and verbal manipulation. She informs Karokaro that she’s already rescued the hostages and advises him to call his men to verify her story. While he’s making the call she tells the thug that she suffered a traumatic event years ago that she hasn’t recovered from. She normally leaves these type of meetings to staff members, but she’s doing this for therapeutic reasons.

We hear somebody on the other end of the kidnapper’s cell-phone talking rapidly and sounding distressed even though it’s in a foreign tongue. Scottie says her Indonesian’s rusty but the man on the other end likely just informed Karokaro that not only did she rescue the hostages, she kidnapped the thug’s brother in the operation. He asks her if she’ll accept cash.

This is our introduction to the Spinoff series that NBC has added to this fall’s schedule and called “The Blacklist: Redemption,” starring Famke Janssen in the role of Hargrave. Scottie was telling the truth about the traumatic event she went through (more on that later) and we immediately notice some of her eccentricities. She carries around some sort of seashell necklace, clutching it in her hand like rosary-beads. She’s also got a penchant for saying “Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers,” almost like a mantra.

The phrase “Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers,” is a tongue-twister and a vocal exercise to help improve one’s diction. It might also be a phrase that a mother and her three-year-old son might share as a private joke. We’re never told the meaning of the phrase, but we’re aware that Scottie seems to get comfort from saying it in tense situations.

Joining Ms. Janssen in the new series are three familiar faces for Blacklist fans as Ryan Eggold reprises his character of Tom Keen. Tom enters this episode wanting Hargrave dead in revenge for Lizzie’s “death,” he ends up becoming part of Scottie’s team so they can trap the man who hired Hargrave to abduct Liz, Alexander Kirk. Keen ends up working with Matias Solomon (Edi Gathegi) and Nez Rowan (Tawny Cypress) who both were involved in the attempted abduction of Liz.

Keen’s brought into the dynamic via Raymond, who informs Tom that Hargrave’s merely a sub-contractor hired by Alexander Kirk. Reddington has a meeting with Keen and the members of the Task-Force and gives them the lowdown on Kirk. Kirk’s actually an alias for an oligarch who struck it rich after the Soviet Union collapsed, by purchasing mining operations for just pennies on the dollar. Raymond explained that Kirk went off the grid in 2002, when he rubbed somebody wrong at the Kremlin.

Reddington tells them that Kirk’s survives due to politicians and leaders protection around the globe, in return for the one kind of gift everybody likes, money. We also see that Kirk’s suffering from some medical condition when he receives a blood-transfusion in his office. He then tells Cooper and the rest of the Task-Force that he proposes they work with Hargrave and Halcyon Aegis to capture Kirk and Harold expresses reservations. Raymond then tells them that the three American hostages that were held in Jakarta, are back home because Halcyon Aegis did what the US Government considers illegal.

Tom’s first meeting face-to-face with Hargrave isn’t exactly smooth as he walks into Agnes’ room at the hospital and finds her in the arms of Scottie, whose rocking back and forth whispering “Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers.” Tom demands his daughter telling Hargrave she’s the only thing he cares about. After a snippy back and forth, Keen says that he’ll work with her to bring Kirk to justice. She sighs looking at Agnes and says that losing a child is absolutely the worst tragedy one can go through. She tells Tom she hopes he never has to experience that pain, then tells him Solomon will pick him up in ten-minutes.

Tom and Solomon take a private plane to the Halcyon Aegis facility and Matias informs Keen that the corporation deals in two types of cases. There are the escapades the American public’s aware of such as helping with security to fortify US troops in military conflicts, that they refer to as the black and white situations. Then there are the “gray-areas,” cases that are legally questionable but morally justifiable.

The Task-Force’s in the conference room when Tom and Solomon arrive and as soon as Ressler sees Matias he says he thought he could do this but he can’t and starts to get out of his chair. Navabi then sees Nez Rowan and starts to go after her, but Tom intercedes telling Samar if he can do this she can as well. Scottie enters the conference room acting like a teacher dealing with a rowdy junior-high class and tells them they’ve got work to do.

We switch to another meeting as Kirk meets with some European cohorts and a man makes some statement about Kirk’s protection in French. He responds in English that he doesn’t require any protection once the American Presidential election takes place he’ll be untouchable. His assistant walks into the office and whispers in Kirk’s ear that the child’s been located. The oligarch responds he wants the matter taken care of that day, of course that child’s Agnes.

Scottie tells those in attendance that the only way to get Kirk is through his bank account. Normally their target doesn’t deposit any money in the US, however he’s put together a Super-Pac for Senator Robert Diaz’s Presidential campaign and she believes there could be over $300 million in that fund. Hargrave then tells them that Solomon, Keen and Brown will rob the bank, but they won’t be able to access what’s in the account. Instead Ressler and Navabi will investigate the robbery and actually take the contents of the account at that point.

Harold responds that the FBI stops bank robberies, they don’t commit them. Scottie calls Cooper out on his sanctimonious attitude saying that they have a long-term working relationship with one of the most wanted criminals on the planet. She reminds them that during the three years they’ve worked together Raymond’s empire’s gotten larger, the Task-Force agrees to work with them.

Just before Nez pulls up in front of the bank in an SUV, one of the bank officer’s having a meeting with one of the bank’s customers. Zack Loescher needs to go to his car to get the paperwork the bank officer needs to see and tells his little girl Sadie to wait for him and he’d be back soon. Of course Solomon and Keen enter the bank just after Loescher leaves.

Matias and Tom have bandanas covering the lower half of their faces and are each packing shotguns. Matias gets everyone’s full attention when he fires a couple of rounds into the ceiling. He then goes up to a female employee and tells her to open the vault and though she’s terrified she refuses. So Solomon grabs the guy that met with Loescher and another woman from the bank took his chair to comfort Sadie.

Keen hears Sadie’s crying and he bends down to make eye-contact with her and tells her everything’s fine and she’ll be okay. No good intentions go unpunished, when Tom bends down to comfort the girl an off-duty cop pulls his weapon and tells Tom to drop his gun. His heroism was mighty impressive, but not really well thought out, Matias tells the cop to put his gun down and the two start screaming at each other, then Solomon shoots him. Tom takes a look at the cop and tells him that it’s only a flesh wound and he’ll be fine.

Unfortunately our worst fears for Sadie come to fruition as she got struck in the abdomen from a stray-bullet. Keen insists that they take her to a hospital or get her to an ambulance, as they leave the bank Zack tells them that Sadie’s his little girl. Tom grabs him by the arm and the four of them enter the SUV.

We get introduced to Operator 6-3, who seems to serve as dispatcher and coordinator for Halcyon Aegis. She informs them that an ambulance is heading towards the bank and then lets them know that it’s on the other side of the street. Tom channels Gene Hackman in the “French Connection” and somehow gets the SUV to the side of the road and they cut off the ambulance and get Sadie and Zack into the medical vehicle. After they’re safely inside the ambulance, they press the button on a remote and the SUV they used for the robbery explodes.

Keen heads for the hospital to see Agnes and he walks into a crime scene and his daughter’s gone. He then flies to Hargrave’s house as Susan’s holding a campaign financing dinner for Senator Diaz. After she’s done introducing the candidate to his audience she sees Tom’s standing at the door of the room the dinner’s taking place in. She gets one of her aides to tell Tom that she believes he’ll be more comfortable in her office.

Scottie storms into her office and starts ripping Keen a new one for coming to her home uninvited and for arriving at such an inopportune time. Tom takes the wind out of Hargrave’s sails when he wraps his hand around Scottie’s throat and asks where his daughter’s at. Suddenly there’s a knock on the office door and one of Scottie’s house-staff’s standing on the other side with Agnes safe and sound in her arms.

Susan tells Tom that she got wind that Kirk ordered a team to kidnap Agnes, so in a preemptive move she took her first. She informs him that Agnes’ receiving the best in medical care. Hargrave also lets Keen know that Sadie Loescher is in good condition after she arranged for a top surgeon to remove the bullet fragments from her abdomen. She’s resting comfortably in Mount Sinai Hospital.

Although Navabi was able to get the team to the halfway point of accessing the PAC fund account after the robbery, however the bank’s security system requires a retina scan of one Peter Pruitt treasurer of the PAC fund in order to enter the account. Pruitt’s attending a Big Eight Summit meeting in Berlin at the Turkish Embassy, one of Tom’s aliases is a criminal wanted by the Turkish Government. So by using that identity when he arrives in Germany he’s immediately apprehended and taken to the Turkish Embassy for extradition proceedings.

Keen of course overcomes his captors and escapes from the holding room and then disguises himself as a waiter serving champagne at the Summit soiree. Tom plays the old switcheroo on Pruitt’s cigarettes, substituting a pack with poison for Pruitt’s regular smokes. Pruitt lights up a square and seconds later he’s choking and lying on the floor. Nez and Solomon disguised as paramedics carry Pruitt to their ambulance on a stretcher, Tom jumps into the ambulance and the three make their get away.

I got the impression that if there will be a character from the original series who becomes a conduit between the two shows, Aram Mojtabai will fill that role. Sharing FBI information with Halcyon Aegis could be the connection between the two series and Aram seems to have found instant chemistry with his counterpart at Hargrave’s operation.

Dumond might become the breakout character in the new series, if you’re familiar with the CBS series Scorpion, picture a combination of Sylvester and Toby. He loves using nicknames; calling Aram “Cheesecake” and referring to Tom as “Sweet Cheeks.” Mojtabai’s become a favorite character on the original show because he’s the odd-duck, but he’s made a place for himself in the macho, testosterone world he lives in. Dumont could fill that same niche at Halcyon Aegis and I took an instant liking to the character portrayed by Adrian Martinez.

Turns out that Keen added a bit too much poison to Pruitt’s smokes and they can’t get a retina scan because his pupils were too small. Aram told Tom they needed a drug that optometrists use to dilate pupils and Solomon and Keen broke into a pharmacy where they found the liquid. However that’s when Matias pushed his luck too far.

Solomon says to Keen that he blames Tom for putting them in their current situation and Keen says if Matias hadn’t attacked his wedding they’d be somewhere else at that moment. Solomon concedes the point but then says to Tom that they both know Liz is in a better place right now. Keen grabs his pistol and shoots Matias in the abdomen telling him this is for Liz as Solomon falls to the floor.

Tom jumps into the ambulance and tells Brown to drive, when she asks where Matias’ at Keen responds just drive. Now Keen finds himself in a race against the clock as the president of Key Atlantic Bank realizes they’ve got Pruitt and he’s about to lockdown the account. The retina scan’s accepted and they get granted access to the account a heartbeat before the executive could lock them out. We watch as Halcyon Aegis and the Task Force break into cheers when they get into the account. Hargrave walks into the hallway and makes a call on her cell and says “Reddington, it’s time.”

Senator Robert Diaz walks into his home a very agitated man talking on the cell and saying he realizes Kirk got attacked by the same people who stole his money. He’s surprised to see Scottie sitting in his living-room and she asks if he had a bad day. Diaz asks her if she knows where his money’s at and Hargrave says of course she does as she took it. Diaz’s incredulous saying that Susan contributed 50 grand to his campaign, she smiles and tells Diaz you have to give to get. That’s when we’re aware Raymond’s also in the home.

Reddington tells Diaz that their move wasn’t personal and he’s ignorant about Diaz’s position on any issue. Diaz says he’s calling the cops and Raymond advises against it, telling him he’d be far better off calling Kirk. We then switch to Kirk’s office as his assistant tells him that Diaz is on the phone. Kirk picks up the phone and tells the Senator it’s an honor, but he hears Raymond’s voice instead. Reddington tells him that he’s got his money and his Senator.

Kirk responds by saying that he should have pulled the trigger that time he had a pistol in Raymond’s mouth in that house by the shore. He then says that Red’s got his money and his Senator but he doesn’t have Kirk and hangs up. Raymond tells Diaz if he wants his money back he’s going to temporarily suspend his campaign and subpoena Kirk to testify in front of the subcommittee that Diaz chairs. Diaz says he won’t be a party to murder and Raymond replies he will if he wants to become President. Diaz does as instructed.

The Task-Force arrives to the church for Agnes’ Christening and Keen tells them that they are the closest thing he and Liz had to family. Granted a dysfunctional family that’s tried to kill each other, but a family nonetheless and he says he knows Liz would have wanted them all to be God-Parents. While the ceremony takes place Tom looks up and sees Raymond standing in the doorway. However when he looks again Reddington’s gone.

After the Christening Tom decides that Scottie should die and he’s going to kill her. He walks into Hargrave’s home and when told she’s not there he says he’ll wait and walks into her office and then calls Raymond. Red tells him that he can’t kill Hargrave and Keen replies they no longer need her as they’ve got Kirk on the way to Washington.

Reddington then says that if Tom kills Susan he’ll never find out the unanswered questions about his childhood. Tom’s birth name’s Christopher Hargrave and he’s the son of Howard and Scottie Hargrave and got kidnapped at the age of three. He tells Tom that if he keeps his true identity from Hargrave he’ll be able to get the information from her to fill in the missing pieces of his life.

Tom’s holding a framed photo of Howard, Susan and Christopher when Scottie walks into her office and she smiles sadly as she starts to talk about her perfect boy. The picture got taken the last day they were all together, the shell necklace that she carries was around her son’s neck in the picture. Once again the beach plays into our saga, they had a wonderful day on the beach building sand-castles.

That night she and Howard drank too much and got into a huge argument. When they awoke the next morning her son was missing. She says that not a day has gone by in the last 28-years that she walks into a room without hoping her son’s in there. She then asks she hopes he didn’t show up to try to kill her again and Tom says that’s exactly why he came, but for his daughter’s sake he’s changed his mind. Once again Matias survives as the authorities investigating the break-in find a pool of Solomon’s blood but he had taken off.

As he starts to leave the office Scottie says you’re hired and Tom’s dumbfounded. She then tries to entice him rubbing Tom’s arm and saying they could do beautiful things together. Thankfully Tom doesn’t have a Oedipal fixation and he left after saying he’s sorry about her son.

The new series looks quite promising and hopefully we shall have some crossover between the two shows on an occasional basis, although Amir Arison could conceivably become a semi-regular on the new show. Matias Solomon will of course be back in top-form and in a few years the incident will just be a memory of how close the two of them have become.

Keep in mind the phrase that Matias used to describe the gray-area “Cases that are legally questionable but morally justifiable.” That’s likely to be the “sweet-spot” for this team and the kind of missions that they concentrate on. Frankly, I could have done without the family ties, but it’s not a deal-breaker for this viewer. Does this mean that eventually we’ll meet Howard and find out why he and Scottie haven’t shared the same bed in four years?

I’ve already expressed my theory about Alexander Kirk, so there’s no need to rehash it here. However one question that did arise from this episode, does Tom actually know that Lizzie’s alive? I’d originally thought that Keen was in the loop when Kate Kaplan suggest they fake Liz’s death, however what would be his motivation to kill Scottie if that’s the case? We’ll find out this Thursday in what should be yet another exciting season-finale for this incredible series.

I’ve decided to call my shot and swing for the fences in this column as the NBC series “The Blacklist,” airs the first episode of their two part season finale this Thursday. The show will have its hands full during the two episodes, as they deal with two issues that could change the series radically.

Their first challenge’s been well publicized over the last few weeks, the producers will incorporate a pilot for a new series, a spinoff starring some new and some familiar faces. The spinoff would star Famke Janssen whom we got introduced to in episode 21 as an old associate of Raymond’s named Susan “Scottie” Hargrave. Published reports have stated that Ryan Eggold (Tom Keen) and Edi Gathegi (Matias Solomon) will make the move with her if the series gets picked up.

This past episode served the dual purpose of introducing Scottie Hargrave to the viewers as well as setting up the action for the seasons two final episodes. Hargrave and her husband Howard are longtime associates of Raymond’s and the founders of Halcyon Aegis, a company that’s a subcontractor for the United States Government.

Reddington’s interest in Scottie however concerns a far different matter, turns out that Halcyon Aegis got hired by a client to deliver him Elizabeth Keen, alive and unharmed. They were of course unsuccessful in that mission and now Scottie faces the clients wrath for botching the job so badly. One of the first things that Raymond said to Hargrave when they finally met face to face was Elizabeth Keen’s dead, so that means you’re dead. Scottie took the statement as Red pronouncing he was going to kill her, but he was actually referring to her now unhappy client.

That client’s Alexander Kirk, whom NBC announced would debut near the end of Season Three to become the series new “BIG BAD.” The network and the show have done a great job so far on keeping most of the details about the character, who’ll be portrayed by Ulrich Thomsen a mystery. However, I’ve had a theory about the character over the last few weeks and seeing the expression on Raymond’s face after Hargrave revealed the identity of her client reinforced my belief that my theory’s correct: Alexander Kirk was the husband of Katerina Rostova and Lizzie Keen’s father.

Although Raymond told Laurel Hitchin that she and the Cabal were responsible for identifying Lizzie as Masha Rostova, I wonder how much he actually believes that statement? If Raymond kept his end of his pact with Dom and keeps his distance from Keen, would she be living an uneventful life as an FBI profiler possibly happily married to Dr. Nick Korpal? Or was Raymond aware that Kirk’s getting closer to finding his daughter and Red’s reason for coming into her life was truly to protect her?

After lots of pondering I’ve come up with what I believe is a viable scenario for what really went down in the late eighties. Katerina and her husband were both KGB Agents when the Soviet Union collapsed, leaving them both in a state of limbo. We’ve heard from Raymond that Katerina adjusted quite well to her new reality, while her husband descended into a downward spiral.

If Red and Katerina ever had an affair, this would seem to be the most likely time for it to have begun. Her life in turmoil with a husband growing more depressed by the day may have been the impetus that drove her to Raymond’s arms. A time for her to escape from reality, a relationship that she didn’t need to be the strong one in. Although if Raymond’s suppositions are correct and the only man Katerina truly loved was her husband, then her affair with Reddington was just temporary.

At the conclusion of Season Two after shooting United States Attorney General Tom Connelly to death, Keen had a flashback to a long-buried memory. She was four-years-old and her parents were arguing and Masha picked up a pistol and shot her father trying to protect her mother. Most viewers likely believed that the shot killed Masha’s father, but there’s yet to be any evidence or even a character’s statement that backs that theory up.

During the conversation Raymond had with the vision of Katerina after ingesting copious amounts of Opium, Rostova told Red that her life was in danger due to what she said to a man. It sounded as if she was referring to her husband, however she was unclear. She then told Reddington that she had a choice, to sacrifice her own life to save her daughter’s. She couldn’t live if she chose the opposite path. If Katerina’s husband did survive the shooting than we know he was the source of the information that Rostova regretted revealing.

If Alexander Kirk was indeed Masha’s father and Katerina’s husband, he would of course expect and demand full custody of his daughter. Which might be the explanation about the fire during Masha’s childhood that only comes back to Keen in glimpses. Was it indeed concocted so that Alexander Kirk believed his daughter perished in the blaze. Did Raymond, Dom, Sam and who ever else was involved that frightened of Kirk being part of Masha’s life that they faked the child’s death?

Has Kirk lived all these years believing his daughter died as a toddler, only to find out the truth when the name Masha Rostova appeared in homes across the planet? Raymond wasn’t surprised when Hargrave mentioned Kirk’s name, so if he’s indeed Katerina’s husband, Red’s known he was still alive. Kirk wanting Halcyon Aegis to kill Raymond as part of their contract, makes sense if Raymond’s what stood between Kirk and his daughter for nearly 30-years.

The answer to Kirk’s identity and his reasons for wanting Masha Rostova alive and unharmed will be revealed in less than two weeks. What ever the outcome however, for the third straight season the series will leave it’s fans with a huge cliffhanger that will cause at least some of them to hope that Summer goes by quickly.